Zaza Pachulia plays with his son Saba's, 7, hair as Davit, 8, watches before the Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, February 23, 2017.

Zaza Pachulia plays with his son Saba's, 7, hair as Davit, 8, watches before the Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, February 23, 2017.

The ESPN feature delves into Pachulia's reputation as one of the league's dirtiest players, contrasted with his easygoing family-man attitude at home. Pachulia points to the 2017 Western Conference Finals against the Spurs as the turning point for his reputation among non-Warriors fans.

In Game 1, Pachulia's closeout on a Kawhi Leonard jump shot resulted in Leonard injuring his ankle. The incident sparked such intense online abuse toward Pachulia that he was forced to employ security guards at his kids' Bay Area school. A Spurs fan filed a lawsuit against him for "devastating the quality of the Spurs' chances."

"Last year was really hard, honestly. I'm not going to lie. It was a really difficult time," wife Tika tells ESPN. "That's the first time we experienced that kind of hate. It was spread around us. They had extra security, because when you get messages like that, I think it's practical to do that."

But it's not all sad news in the ESPN piece: They also discuss how Pachulia and his wife met. Zaza approached Tika, who was a ballet dancer with the Georgian National Ballet, after seeing her perform. They had a lot in common, except for their dancing skills.